There is no way that anything the Pixies do from here on in can live up to the hipsters' standards. I've been a fan for a long time, and I think the new stuff is good. We all love to re-write history with certain bands. Remember, this band had to go to Britian to become "famous". They couldn't give their albums away in the states, yet all the bandwagon jumpers cite "Doolittle" or the time they saw "Hey" at the reunion show as pivotal moments in their hipster lives. When Kurt Cobain admitted he ripped off Pixies music, all of a sudden they were everyone's favourite band. Pitchfork had to give it a 1/10 because they need to hold onto their holier than thou cred. Then all the sheep line up to quote the review. Kim Deal was not the Pixies. She hardly had any input at all... She didn't even fully write a complete song.... "Gigantic" was a co-write and so was "Silver", but you all skip that track anyway!! Does anyone even "listen" to music anymore?

I'm a pretty easygoing Pixies fan who enjoyed their later stuff as much as what came before. I'm certainly no purist. That said, this attempt at a comeback is without a doubt the most disappointing and horrible collection of music that I have ever purchased. As someone who often acquires albums based on nothing more than cover art, music quality be damned, I can tell you quite honestly that my concept of "the worst music" is a very low bar indeed. The Pixies easily passed beneath this abysmally deep level of awful, getting extra marks for becoming the record I rid myself of soonest after purchase.

Still not convinced? Imagine Peter Frampton with digital vocal effects one track away from some bland alternative group who borrowed from the worst aspects of Tool and Filter.... and then suddenly realize that this is supposed to be the Pixies. You try to wake up, but you can't! This is really happening!

Pixies should have never reunited - at least not as "Pixies". Of course, this is one in a row of typically selfish personal opinions - but also one made out of respect for their past work, what it meant to a generation, a desperate cry for the time that cannot be b(r)ought back.

There were many reasons why they did split up at the time and for long successfully resisted the evil that is reunion. Black Francis hanged on to his ego, while others started their own projects and proved Pixies were not the only fairy tale to wish for. For me personally, Pixies stopped there and then - after that very last studio album called "Trompe Le Monde", which is not as perfect as the first four records but still did breathe on its own and was a logical conclusion to the story of one of the truest alternative rock bands.

That way their legacy would have remained intact. This way however, "Pixies of the 21st century" chose to become a watered down version of their former selves, a mediocre indie-thing, featuring four (actually three original) members that sadly refuse to evolve musically - which is audibly sad for a group that once led the way and gave us gems like "Is She Weird?", "Ana" or "Bone Machine", to name a few. There was definitely the youth factor of the time, discovering and growing up with Pixies and learning to love and handle their twisted knife set that was music and the lyrics - but there was artistic maturity that captured it all together to last to the present day (and beyond).

What is left now in the flesh, is a very shallow attempt (if any) to recapture this - on one song it actually works; "What Goes Boom" is dangerously close to Pixies' glory days, deservedly so... although it obviously re-writes from what Pixies once truly meant, but sadly not any more. Considering from what their "come-back" has to offer - to put it simply, "EP-1" sounds as if Pixies are a completely different band now, either confused with or unaware (and utterly dismissive) of the legend. Starting with the very title of this release (song titles don't help either).

The time gap is too big and so much has happened throughout the last twenty-or-so years in their as well as our lives, that the group's comeback doesn't really change, save nor does anything to improve the time that is now. Sadly the weirdness and bones are history (the best part). New stuff has a momentary second or two of appeal but in total it's just hurting mediocre. The only consolation might be the Vaughan Oliver presence in the sleeve designs - if only this was their first-ever recording, it might have fared slightly better, at least with crazed collectors.